Fax transmission over the packet network

ABSTRACT

A FoIP server mediating fax communication between gateways and enterprise backend systems. The gateways are VoIP capable, connected to the PSTN and the enterprise network, and mediate between the PSTN fax call and fax over IP calls. The FoIP Server mediates between the FoIP calls and enterprise backend systems, such as message transfer agent (MTA), Customer Relationship Management CRM, document management, web services, mainframe, or a specialized application requiring faxing capabilities.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/350,168 filed Jan. 23, 2003, entitled FAX TRANSMISSION OVER THEPACKET NETWORK.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present Invention relates to facsimile (fax) transmission, and moreparticularly, to the transmission of faxes over the packet network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Over the last 20 years, facsimile (fax) has been a successful means totransmit documents electronically. With the emergence of Internet ande-mail, it appeared as though that fax would be rapidly replaced by thee-mail. However, it is now clear that the two technologies will co-existfor a while.

FIG. 1 shows present-day deployment of fax machines in an officeenvironment equipped with Internet messaging. A fax server 2 isconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 4 by aplurality of dedicated lines, such as T1/E1. The PSTN 4 is the “outsideworld” as far as the fax server 2 is concerned and is the source ofincoming faxes as well as the sink of outgoing faxes. The fax server 2is also connected to a packet network 6 which provide connections to aplurality of users (e.g. 16). In this way, the fax server 2 enablescorporations to provide desktop faxing capabilities to employees viae-mail architectures such as Exchange, Notes, SMTP, and other backendapplications. The fax server 2 can also used to provide fax-backtransaction confirmation, fax broadcasting or automated form processing.

The fax server 2 requires specialized interface cards 14 for providingthe conversion between fax information sent by the users. When thedocument arrives at the fax server 2, the fax server 2 converts thedocument into a format that is suitable for transmission over the PSTN4. Finally, the fax server 2 sends the converted document over the PSTN4 via its dedicated interface cards 14. Conversely, for a fax arrivingat the fax server 2, the fax server 2 identifies the destination user,converts the incoming fax transmission into a format suitable fordelivery to the destination user, and sends the converted document tothe destination user over the internal IP network.

In a common enterprise of today, the users are not only connected to thefax server 2 via the internal IP network 6, but are also connected to anto internetworking gateway 8, which connects the internal IP network 6to a global Internet 12. The gateway 8 allows a user 16 to communicateelectronically with other parties (e.g. 18) connected to the globalInternet 12. Such electronic communications may includestore-and-forward messages (e.g., e-mail), real-time one-waycommunications (e.g., live TV), real-time two-way communications (e.g.,Internet telephony, etc.).

The gateway 8 is typically connected to an Internet Service Provider 10(ISP), which is basically a larger gateway or the PSTN. The connectionbetween the gateway 8 and the ISP 10 or the PSTN is typicallyestablished via dedicated T1/E1 lines, similarly to the connectionbetween the fax server 2 and the PSTN 4.

It is apparent that a first set of dedicated T1/E1 lines are required toprovide fax functionality and a second set of dedicated T1/E1 lines arerequired to provide Internet access functionality. The use of two setsof dedicated telephone/Data lines is expensive to maintain and,moreover, it is possible to experience the situation in which either setof lines is idle while the other set is being used at its maximumcapacity. In such a situation, the capacity of the underused set oflines goes to waste. The requirement for dedicated hardware forinterfacing with the PSTN translates into a further non-negligibleexpense for the enterprise.

It is therefore desirable to provide a new system that can harmoniouslyintegrate a fax based communication tool with other communication toolsthough IP network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel method and systemthat obviates or mitigates at least one of the disadvantages of existingsystems.

The present invention uses a server which mediates between a gatewayconnected to the PSTN using a packet based communication protocol forreceiving/sending fax message through the gateway and enterprise serviceinfrastructure.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provideda communication system for delivering fax messages, which includes: oneor more message transfer agents (MTAs), each for which transferring andreceiving messages; a packet network; a gateway connecting PublicSwitched telephone network (PSTN) and the packet network; and a serverfor establishing communication with the gateway through the packetnetwork and transacting fax message between the MTA and a fax terminalconnected to the PSTN.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of processing a fax message in a communicationnetwork. The communication network including one or more messagetransfer agents (MTAs), a packet network, one or more gatewaysconnecting Public Switched telephone network (PSTN) and the packetnetwork, and one or more servers for transacting fax message between theMTA and a fax terminal connected to the PSTN. The method includes thesteps of: selecting a server that handles a fax call on the terminalwhen the fax is reached at the terminal; establishing a session betweenthe gateway and the selected server and a session between the faxterminal sending the fax on the PSTN and the server; transferring thefax from the fax terminal to the selected server; storing informationrelated to the fax in a media database; terminating the sessions;determining, in the server, a destination address of an MTA for theincoming fax on the server; connecting the server to the MTA to transferthe incoming fax message; creating, in the server, a message in a formatcompatible with the selected MTA based on the stored information; andtransferring the created message to the MTA.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of processing a fax message in a communicationnetwork. The method includes the steps of: receiving a message from theMTA in the server (a file document is attached to the message);retrieving information of the message; storing the information into adatabase; verifying if the sender sending the fax is authorized to sendfaxes and verifying if the recipient who receives the fax is valid;completing a sender information; converting the file document from anoriginal format to a predetermined format; establishing a sessionbetween the server and the gateway; transferring the fax content writtenby the predetermined format from the server to the gateway.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the followingdetailed description of preferred embodiments in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be further understood from the following descriptionwith reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing conventional deployment of faxmachines;

FIG. 2 is schematic diagram showing a communication network inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing T.30 fax machines on a PSTN;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing one example of the process forestablishing a call over a packet network in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an incoming fax data flow in thecommunication system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an outgoing fax data flow in thecommunication system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing one example of the process forreceiving an incoming fax from the PSTN 4 at the communication system ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing one example of the process for sendingfaxes from the communication system of FIG. 2 to the PSTN;

FIG. 9 is schematic diagram showing anther example of the communicationnetwork of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing one example of the process forreceiving an incoming fax from the PSTN at the communication system ofFIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing anther example of the process shown inFIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram showing one example of the process for sendingan outgoing fax from the communication system of FIG. 9 to the PSTN; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing one example of a FoIP server ofFIGS. 2 and 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 shows a communication network 100 in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The communication network 100includes a FoIP (Real Time Fax Over IP) server 102, a gateway 104 and amessaging system 106.

The FoIP server 102 communicates with the gateway 104 through the IPnetwork 108. The gateway 104 communicates with a fax machine 110 on thePSTN 4. The FoIP server 102 may mediate fax communication between thegateway(s) 104 and an enterprise backend system(s) (e.g. messagingsystem 106).

The gateway 104 acts as an entrance between networks. The gatewaymediates fax call from the PSTN 4 and fax over IP calls. For example,the computers that control traffic within a company's network or at anInternet service provider (ISP) are gateway nodes. The gateway may beassociated with both a router for directing a given packet of data thatarrives at the gateway 104, and a switch for providing an actual path inand out of the gateway 104 for a given packet.

In the description below, the gateway 104 is a VoIP gateway, whichtransforms a call from the PSTN 4 into a VoIP call using H.323, SIP orMGCP or other signaling protocol. For example, the VoIP gateway isequipped with a T1/E1 interface to the PSTN 4 and a 100 Mb Ethernetinterface to the IP network 108. The VoIP gateway uses “voice encoderand decoder” (vocodec), e.g. G.711, G.729, and G.723, to transport thevoices of the caller/callee. The vocodec is a card specialized totransport human voice. In a similar fashion, the gateway uses T.38, acodec specialized to transport T.30 messages (i.e. the language used byfax machine to communicate). The gateway 104 may be Cisco Systems Inc.model 2600 series, 3600 series, MC 3810, 7200, 7750 and AS5300(trade-mark). Those gateways use a VoIP card, a PSTN interface card anda network interface. The gateway 104 may be replaced with a T.38 awareterminal (e.g. T.38 fax machine) or another FoIP server 102 anywhere onthe company's network or the Internet.

The gateway 104 establishes a T.30 session with the fax. Instead ofmaking any decision regarding the session, the gateway 104 forwardseverything to the FoIP server 102 and the FoIP server 102 terminates theT.30 session.

The FoIP server 102 is a VoIP end point for receiving and sending faxes.The FoIP server 102 mediates FoIP calls and a message transfer agent(MTA), e.g. messaging system 106. The FoIP server 102 uses standardsignaling protocol such H.323, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), MGCP(Media Gateway Control Protocol) to establish call. The FoIP server 102is part of the VoIP network. The FoIP server 102 does not limits itssignaling protocol to H.323, SIP and MGCP and may use other signalingprotocol. The FoIP server 102 exchanges faxes with the gateway 104 usingT.38. The FoIP server 102 provides the fax portion of the unifiedcommunication (e-mail, fax, voice).

Protocols used by the FoIP server 102 and the gateway 104 are nowdescribed in detail. T.30 is a standard protocol approved by theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU) that defines how faxmachines communicate together over analog lines. As illustrated in FIG.3, fax machines 110A and 110B on the PSTN 4 communicate with each otherusing T.30 protocol.

H.323 is a standard protocol approved by the ITU that defines howaudiovisual conferencing data is transmitted across networks. H.323 iscommonly used for voice calls across networks, a subset of videoconferencing. SIP is a standard IETF generic protocol to establishsessions and one of the most common application is to establish VoIPcalls. MGCP is a protocol used to convert PSTN calls to calls carriedover packet network.

T.38 is a standard protocol “Procedures for real-time Group 3 facsimilecommunication over IP networks” approved by the ITU that defines howT.30 messages can be transported over packet network. The scope of T.38is to provide a means of communication for T.30 devices (i.e. faxmachines) over packet network. The T.38 codec is specialized totransport fax machine language (i.e. T.30 messages exchanged between faxterminal). The T.38 specification does not provide any means toestablish the communication between packet network endpoint. VoIPprotocols, such as H.323, SIP and MGCP, are designed to be used for thatpurpose. T.38 mainly specifies the tunneling technologies to transferthe T.30 messages exchanged between fax machines over a packet network.

A fax transmission over the packet network between the FoIP server 102and the gateway 104 may be illustrated as showed in FIG. 4. Referring toFIG. 4, in step 31, a VoIP call is established between the FoIP Server102 and the gateway 104 using H.323, SIP or MGCP. In step 32, a T.30(fax machine to fax machine) tunnel session is established using T.38.In step 33, a T.30 data exchange (fax transmission) occurs using T.38.In step 34, the T.30 session is torn down using T.38. In step 35, theVoIP call is torn down using H.323, SIP or MGCP.

Referring to FIG. 2, the FoIP server 102 and the gateway 104 establishesa call in a manner similar to that of FIG. 4.

The FoIP server 102 has one or more main processors for processingstandard signaling, e.g. T.38 and T.30. The FoIP server 102 hasfunctionality to capture all available transaction information, e.g.caller identification (ID) number, caller ID name, caller number,gateway address, date and time, duration, transmission speed, number ofpages, CSID (Call Subscriber ID) and DMTF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency).The FoIP server 102 stores fax media information and transaction andprovides remote access to the data through protocol, e.g. HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol). The fax media information is stored into amedia database 309 (FIG. 13).

The FoIP server 102 handles a plurality of simultaneous fax calls. Foreach one, a virtual T.30 engine created in the FoIP server 102 simulatesa fax terminal. All outgoing faxes are queued until they arerouted/delivered and they are archived for later retrieval.

The FoIP server 102 may be embodied as a computing device that operatesin accordance with a series of instructions contained in a programelement stored on a computer readable storage medium. The series ofinstructions indicate to the computing device how to react under variousconditions, e.g., in the case of receipt of an incoming fax,transmission of an outgoing fax.

The messaging system 106 includes a server 112. The messaging system 106has functionality for interfacing with end users (e.g. desktop personalcomputer 114) and allowing them to formulate and retrieve electronicmessages (mails) in a user-friendly format. The server 112 may beExchange (trade-mark) from Microsoft Corp., Lotus Domino (trade-mark)from International Business Machines Inc or an SMTP (Simple MailTransfer Protocol) based server. The messaging system 106 may useMicrosoft Outlook (trade-mark) or Lotus Notes (trade-mark) fordistributing the mails. The messaging system 106 can be composed ofseveral Messaging servers 112 that can be spread across multiplenetworks.

The communication system 100 may communicate with more than one gateway104 and may include more than one FoIP server 102.

The operation for establishing a call between the FoIP server 102 andthe gateway 104 is now described. FIG. 5 shows an incoming fax scenarioof the communication system 100 of FIG. 2. FIG. 6 shows an outgoing faxscenario in the communication system 100 of FIG. 2. The FoIP Server 102and the gateway 104 may use gatekeeper (if using H.323) orProxy/registrar (if using SIP) to determine which gateway/FoIP server isto be used for a given telephone number. For example, beforeestablishing a VoIP call, the H.323 end point (gateway/FoIP server) mayrequests, to a gatekeeper (not shown), the IP address of the end pointresponsible to handle the call. In response to the request, thegatekeeper provides the IP address. Alternatively the FoIP server or thegateway may have a local dial plan to decide which endpoint handleswhich number.

Referring to FIG. 5, “an incoming fax scenario” using H.323, SIP or MGCPis now described. The gateway 104 receives a fax call on its PSTNinterface for the number XXXX. Then, the gateway 104 may requests to agatekeeper (only for H.323) the IP address of the device handling thenumber XXXX. Alternatively it may use its local dial plan to determinethe IP address of the device handling the number XXXX. The gateway 104establishes a call to the FoIP server with the specified IP address.

Referring to FIG. 6, “an outgoing fax scenario” using H.323/SIP/MGCP isnow described. The FoIP server 102 has a fax that is sent to the numberYYYY. The FoIP server 102 may requests, to a gatekeeper (only forH.323), the IP address of the device handling the number YYYY.Alternately the FoIP server may use its local dial plan to determine theIP addresses if the device handling the number YYYY. Then, the FoIPserver 102 establishes a call with the gateway with the specified IPaddress.

The process for receiving an incoming fax from the PSTN 4 at thecommunication system 100 of FIG. 2 is now described in detail.Initially, the gateway establishes a call with the FoIP server 102 whichis to receive the fax in accordance with the “an incoming fax scenario(FIG. 5)”. Referring to FIG. 7, in step 130, the FoIP server 102receives IP packets corresponding to the fax from the gateway 104. Instep 132, the FoIP server 102 archives the incoming fax. In step 134,the FoIP server 102 determines, based on the information collectedduring the call (e.g. called number, calling Number, CSID), the addressof the user in the messaging system 106 that is to receive the fax. Instep 136, the FoIP server 102 creates a mail message and, in step 138,the FoIP server 102 sends to the messaging system 106. The sender in themessaging system 106, e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, distributesthe mail message to the proper user mailbox. For example, the mailmessage from the FoIP server 102 to the user may contain the followinginformation:

-   -   1. The sender indicates that the message comes from the FoIP        system;    -   2. The subject is composed of information regarding the fax        (Called Number, Calling Number, CSID, number pages);    -   3. The body contains the information about the transaction (time        received, duration, number of page, an so on);    -   4. The mail contains one attachment that contains the receive        fax in tiff format. That attachment can be viewed using Tiff        viewer such Wang imaging; and    -   5. Optionally the e-mail may contain other information that can        be used to display the transaction information using specialized        forms and formats.

The process for sending faxes from the communication system 100 of FIG.2 to the PSTN 4 is now described in detail. The end user uses its mailclient, e.g. Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, to create a mail messagethat will contain all the information to create a fax. For example, themail message content may be interpreted the following way:

-   -   1. The recipients selected represents fax numbers instead of an        e-mail address and they will be relayed to the FoIP Server;    -   2. The e-mail subject will become the fax subject;    -   3. The e-mail body will be inserted as comment on the fax cover        page;    -   4. The attached documents will be converted to fax format and        appended to the fax (after the coversheet);    -   5. Optionally special codes may be used to specify settings        particular to a fax transmission; and    -   6. Optionally specialized forms may be used to specify settings        particular to a fax transmission;

Referring to FIG. 8, in step 140, the mail message is transmitted fromthe mail client to the server 112 of the messaging system 106. In step142, the messaging system 106 examines the recipient addresses to findthat they contain fax numbers they will be transferred to the FoIPserver. When they contain fax numbers, the messaging system 106transfers each mail to the proper FoIP server. In step 144, when theFoIP server 102 receives the mail, the FoIP server 102 extracts all theinformation pertaining to the fax transmission and creates entry in thefaxing queue corresponding to each fax. In step 146, the FoIP server 102creates the cover page and converts the attachment documents into tiffformat. Once that is completed, the fax transaction is ready to be sentto the first available VoIP gateway able to handle the transmission. TheFoIP server 102 then follows the steps described in “An outgoing faxscenario (FIG. 6)” to send the fax over IP network. If the transactionis successful, the entry in the fax queue is marked as completed andwill be archived. If the transaction is a failure, the FoIP server 102marks the transaction as “Waiting for retry” and will be resent after acertain delay or “Failed” if no retry are programmed, in that case, thetransaction will be archived.

In FIG. 2, the FoIP server 102 communicates with the messaging system106. However, the FoIP server 102 and backend applications, e.g. CRM(Customer Relationship Management), document management, web services,mainframe, or a specialized application may communicate with an APIspecifically designed to fax enable the backend applications.

FIG. 9 shows another example of the communication system 100 shown inFIG. 2. In the communication system 100 of FIG. 9, the FoIP server 102communicates with enterprise backend systems 150, such as the messagingsystem 106A (e.g. Exchange, Notes, SMTP), CRM applications 152, Webservices 154, a mainframe 156, a form processing application, documentmanagement or a specialized application. The FoIP server 102 acceptsfaxing request from the backend systems 150 and reports fax transactionto the backend systems 150. The FoIP server 102 mediates between theFoIP calls and the backend systems 150.

Incoming faxes are automatically routed to the messaging system 106A,other backend system or directly to the user. The FoIP server 102 inFIG. 9 has functionality of unifying messages.

The process for receiving an incoming fax from the PSTN 4 at thecommunication system 100 of FIG. 9 is now described in detail. Referringto FIG. 10, in step 160, the gateway 104 receives a fax call on thegateway telephony interface connected to the PSTN 4. In step 162, thegateway 104 determines the end point (FoIP server) on the packet networkthat will handles the fax call, based on the gateway dial plan or a dialplan obtain from a centralize service. The gatekeeper (not shown) actsas the “centralize service” when H.323 is used. The proxy/registrarinfrastructure (not shown) acts as the “centralize service” when SIP isused. It is assumed that the FoIP server 102 is the end point.

In step 164, a call session between the gateway 104 and the selectedFoIP server 102 is established using standard signaling protocols. Ifcall establishment fails, the gateway 104 uses the dial plan todetermine a new alternate FoIP server. In step 166, a media sessionbetween the gateway 104 and the selected FoIP 102 server is establishedusing ITU T.38 protocol. If the media session establishment fails, thegateway 104 uses the dial plan to determine a new alternate FoIP server.In step 168, a T.30 fax session between the fax terminal on the PSTN 4initiating the call and the FoIP server 102 is established. In step 170,the fax is transferred between the fax terminal on the PSTN 4 and theFoIP server 102 according to T.30 protocol.

In step 172, the FoIP server 102 stores the fax media into a mediadatabase (not shown) into one or many files. In step 174, the T.30session, T.38 and call session are terminated. In step 176, the FoIPserver 102 stores all transaction information and URL to the filescontaining the fax media.

In step 178, the FoIP server 102 determines, based on the transactioninformation, a destination address and a MTA for the incoming fax. Instep 180, the FoIP server 102 is connected to the MTA to transfer theincoming fax message. In step 182, the FoIP server 102 creates a messagein a format compatible with the selected MTA. The message contains thefax media file (in native tiff fax format or any other format throughconversion), transaction information in machine readable (code embeddedin the message), human readable text (embedded in the title and body ofthe message and human readable graphic (embedded into the media fileattachment). In step 184, the FoIP server 102 transfers the createdmessage to the MTA.

When the gateway 104 is replaced with a T.38 aware terminal (e.g.T.38fax terminal) (not shown), steps 160 and 162 are replaced with steps 190and 192 as shown in FIG. 11. Referring to FIG. 11, in step 190, the T.38aware terminal scans a document and a destination is entered from aterminal input interface, such as a keyboard or touch screen. In step192, the end point on the packet network that will handle the fax callis determined based on the terminal dial plan or a dial plan obtainedfrom a centralize service and the information entered by the user.

The process for sending an outgoing fax to the PSTN 4 from thecommunication system 100 of FIG. 9 is now described in detail. Referringto FIG. 12, in step 200, the FoIP server 102 receives a messagecontaining embedded codes describing the faxing options, senderinformation and the list of fax recipients, and a list of file documentsattached to the message. In step 202, the FoIP server 102 retrieves allembedded and files attached codes from the message. In step 204, theFoIP server 102 stores sender, fax options, recipients and documents tofax into the FoIP database (e.g. media database).

In step 206, the FoIP server 102 verifies if the sender is authorized tosend faxes either from an external directory or from the FoIP serverinternal directory. If the sender is not authorized to fax, thetransaction is refused and the sender is notified.

In step 208, the FoIP server 102 verifies that recipient destinationsare valid. If a recipient destination is not valid the transaction forthat destination is refused and the sender is notified. In step 210, theFoIP server 102 completes the sender information by retrieving extrainformation from a centralized directory external to the communicationsystem 100. In step 212, the FoIP server 102 converts the file documentsfrom their native format to tiff format by using the native application.A printer driver, command line converters, internal conversion engine orspecialized conversion API may be used in conjunction with theapplication.

In step 214, the FoIP server 102 creates a tiff coversheet for eachrecipient using sender and the recipient information. In step 216, thesession between the FoIP server 102 and the gateway is established. Instep 218, the tiff format information is sent to the gateway.

FIG. 13 shows one example of the FoIP server 102 shown in FIGS. 2 and 9.The FoIP server 102 of FIG. 13 includes a SMTP gateway 300 and anExchange gateway 302, which provide interfaces to external messagingsystems, i.e. SMTP messaging system 326 and Exchange messaging system352. The external messaging systems may be remotely accessed through thenetwork. The SMTP gateway 300 and the Exchange gateway 302 allow theend-user to send faxes on the PSTN and receive fax transaction mailnotifications.

As an example, the FoIP server 102 is composed of the componentsdescribe hereafter and in FIG. 13. It includes a fax driver 304 and aXML gateway 306. The fax driver 304 communicates with the T.38 gateway104 to send/receive faxes to/from the PSTN (4). The XML gateway 306processes XML outbound fax documents. For example, those XML documentsmaybe transferred to the FoIP Server 102, in a file system directorythat is scanned by a backend application the FoIP server 102 or throughhttp.

A fax archive database 308 is provided to the FoIP server 102. The faxarchive database 308 may be located in the FoIP or on the IP network andaccessed remotely. For example, it can be accessed through JDBC (JavaDataBase Connectivity). The fax archive database 308 is used to storeall the completed fax transaction details. For archiving faxinformation, an archive component 310 is provided.

The fax media from the PSTN (4) is stored in a media store database 309.The media store database 309 may be installed locally on the FoIP filesystem or on the IP network on remote file system. The media storedatabase 309 contains all the documents used to generate the outgoingfaxes (e.g. Microsoft Word (trade-mark), Microsoft Excel (trade-mark),text, coversheet, etc.), the outgoing fax tiff and incoming fax tiffs.

The FoIP server 102 further includes a configuration manager 314,CoConfig 316 and a fault tolerance 318 which are components forproviding internal functionality to other system component. Theconfiguration manager 314 and CoConfig 316 contain respectively thesystem configurations and company configurations. The fault tolerance318 monitors all components and possible faults, manages the fail overmechanisms and component election process. The configuration manager314, the CoConfig 316 and the fault tolerance 318 communicate with aconfiguration database 320, a CoConfig database 322 and a services statedatabase 324, respectively for obtaining relevant information.

The FoIP server 102 further includes a session manager 326 and a httpserver 328. The session manager 326 grants/denies system access toremote administrative tools like an MMC Snap-in (trade-mark ofMicrosoft) 356 and/or API. The http server 328 is used to relay webaccess requests from web browser 360 or backend applications to the FoIPcomponents.

The FoIP server 102 further includes a fax manager 330, a fax queue 332,a fax queue database 334, a fax folder mediation 336, a documentrasterizer 338 and a media store 340. The fax manager 330 contains allthe intelligence to handle the faxes. The fax queue 332 controls accessto the fax queue database 334. The fax folder mediation 336 servesremote client access to the fax lists. The media store 340 read, basedon the instructions of the fax manager 330, the fax media from the mediastorage database 309 and stores them. The document rasterizer 338converts documents in the media store 340 into faxes.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the fax server,i.e., FoIP server, communicates with T.38 fax machine without goingthrough the PSTN. Thus, specialized circuit fax cards for interfacingwith the PSTN to deliver fax transmissions are no longer required.Moreover, through with a gateway connected to the PSTN, the same TelcoT1/E1/analog interfaces is shared to deliver voice service and faxservices, enabling a more efficient use of the available bandwidth onthe lines, this again without any specialized circuit fax cards. Forexample, voice services can be IP PBX (Interactive Voice Response), IPIVR (Interactive Voice Response) and IP UM (unified messaging). Also theFoIP server can reuse infrastructure (gateway 104) and messaging system106A already deployed to deliver voice services and vice versa.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the FoIP serverused in conjunction with the VoIP system offers a single user experiencefor e-mail, voice mail and fax, by making all those messages availablein the user mailbox.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, changes and modifications may be made to such embodimentswithout departing from the true scope of the invention.

1. A communication system for delivering fax messages, comprising: oneor more message transfer agents (MTAs), each for which transferring andreceiving messages; a packet network; a gateway connecting PublicSwitched telephone network (PSTN) and the packet network; and a serverfor establishing communication with the gateway through the packetnetwork and transacting fax message between the MTA and a fax terminalconnected to the PSTN.
 2. The communication system as claimed in claim1, wherein the server establishes communication with the gateway overthe packet network using a standard signaling protocol, and exchangesfax data using ITU T.38 “Procedures for real-time Group 3 facsimilecommunication over IP networks” protocol, and the server includes a mainprocessor to process standard signaling which includes T.38 and T.30protocol.
 3. The communication system as claimed in claim 1 furthercomprising a gatekeeper for providing an address of the server to thegateway when the gateway establish a connection to the server, and forproviding an address of the gateway to the server when the serverestablishes a connection to the gateway.
 4. The communication system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the server captures transaction informationfor transmitting the fax message.
 5. The communication system as claimedin claim 1, wherein the transaction information includes at least one ofcaller ID Number, caller ID Name, called number, gateway address, date &time, duration, transmission speed, number of pages, CSID and DMTF. 6.The communication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the serverstores fax media information and transaction information.
 7. Thecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server providesremote access to the data through a protocol.
 8. The communicationsystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server accepts faxing requestfrom MTA or report fax transactions to the MTA.